Computers Books

I still have no idea what Stronghold is, but I spent many meaningful hours reading this volume on the crapper. Makes a fine gift!

I just want to say that my wife demanded that I send some money to one of those save-our-children sponsorships for a village in Vietnam, and that instead I bought this book. Boy was it worth it! Screw that Vietnamese village. This book is worth FIVE Vietnamese villages!

...I'm going to read it again, and again...

Actually, I'm going to get copies for all my friends, and family members, too. I think this one is much better than "Bible for Dummies!" and *certainly* much better than "Sex for Dummies!" (A book that should never have been published, IMO. If you need a manual for that, you shouldn't be breeding...)

You should get this book! We should all get this book! Blows the hell out of the competition!

When I picked up this book I thought it was just another server reference for my shelf, but boy was I wrong! The Official Stronghold Guide not only reveals the innards of Stronghold's unique flexible server architecture with such loving and engrossing detail that a master of fiction would be shamed, but Parekh also manages to simulteneously unravel many delicate issues of humanity and human nature along the way. As I read I found myself uncovering hidden truths about myself and resolving personal issues that have been plauging me for years. Unique and humourous, insightful beyond it's scope. A true masterpiece. I have the courage to smile again, and I owe it all to Parekh. And my server is in top shape too!

This work is a gripping testament to the power of the free flow of information, and its ability to shape the world. It is stunning in its intensity.

very good reference guide. Each chapter has some bit of information even for an expert.

Excellent book for understanding basic PC hardware. The book is well written and has many useful "hints". I highly recommand this book to anyone who wants a comprehensive book about PC hardware, upgrading and basic repairs.

Great book. Most repair books are just focused on the A+ exam. This one is wonderful for learning or improving your repair skills. It's not an exam cram its a how to book.

I bought this book about a year ago when I was contemplating stretching the life of my 4+ year old PC. The book proved very useful for me to zero in on the biggest bang-for-the-buck upgrades, and which ones were best to avoid because they yield low performance for the dollar.

About a month ago, I decided to build my own PC. This book again proved useful in helping guide me in making decisions on what equipment to choose.

It's rare that I spend over twenty bucks for a book. This book has paid for itself a few times over in helping me save money by not spending unnecessarily, or spending unwisely.

The instructions are written clearly. There are many photographs illustrating the steps being described, sometimes a few different photos of variations of different types of components. There is plenty of "theory of operation" on how various components work and how different standards compare (IDE vs SATA, for example). There are specific brand recommendations. There are specific techology type of recommendations. And there is just the right amount of humor throughout the book.

You may think this sort of book is only for guy geeks. Well, I'm a woman who's just about to pass the mid-century mark, and I found it to be a valuable reference for building, repairing, and upgrading PCs. You can pay the Geek squad lots of money to fix your stuff, or you can pay a bit over $20 and learn how to fix it yourself. That's a great feeling.

Repairing, upgrading and troubleshooting PCs has been my business for almost 20 years. I buy all such newly published books each year from mainstream authors Minasi, Mueller, Bigelow, etc. While my collection of those books (20) do have their own merits in technical specifications and documentation value, my purchase of this book by Robert & Barbara Thompson was by far the most pleasing. Why?

In just the first 2-hours of scanning subjects, I highlighted dozens of gems of advice or insights from the Thompson's long experience that I have NOT seen in any of the other books. I couldn't stop reading. The Thompson's book will not replace the other books mentioned, but it is the first one I consult for superb hardware insights and advice -- a GREAT supplement to the other books. Don't miss this one!

It's been such a long time since I did anything with HTML and I needed a no nonsense approach to brushing up on it. Well, this book is right on target for me. The hands-on method of teaching in this book is so great that it feels like you are taking a course on HTML. The format is like a work book so you are always working with the material as you learn it. This author does not dumb it down to make you feel like if the material is for "Dummies" either. There are a few puns in there to maintain levity but the author is always on task.
So far I am in Chapter 4 and have learned quite a few fundamental techniques in CSS that I will use on my work center intranet. I definitely recommend this book to get the basics of HTML and as a bonus being taught to do things the right way to meet standards, what a concept! I tell you if the rest of the Sitepoint books are like this one, then they have just earned themselves a loyal customer!!

I attempted to learn web page development self study beginning with a couple of " for dummies " books. They were interesting - and had some value - but the information within these books were not as well organized to learn from. There was also important issues for beginners in web page development that were left out of the book. Things like selecting a website - and loading files etc. I had gotten to the point where I created a very basic site with my text editor - but when I went to upload it to a web host - I could get the pages uploaded / but I could not figure out where to put things - how exactly everythign works.

I'm only on page 80 - but so far I've learned some basic HTML - inline style - Embedded style elements - and External Style sheets - with brief projects using each of these structures. It's very hands on and basic to learn so far, I'm quite satisfied with the purchase.

I don't expect it will teach all teh tricks of the trades and how to work with each and every element throughout the book - but it sets you up with the basic framerwork of knowledge and structure of which to build upon and the hands on approach is very user friendly for learning markup.

I'd recommend this to anyone interested in learning web page markup and CSS from scratch.

I had already built a website using a "user-friendly" site builder offered by the hosting service. However, it was almost impossible to make changes to the site and the markup created by the program was bloated and often contained errors. So when I bought this book I was desperate. Within two days I had completely re-done the markup for the site so that it's now compliant with all current standards.

The book lays out in simple terms, with great examples, exactly how to use CSS and XHTML to design a website that meets your needs. It's easy to read, offers good tips, and you can customize the look of your site by simply playing with the examples to see how they appear on a page and then adapting the markup. Using a style sheet, as illustrated in the book, makes it VERY easy to change the look of all pages in a site with one or two alterations in markup.

I recommend this book highly for anyone who knows little or a moderate amount about using CSS and XHTML.

I am about halfway through this book, building the sample website it teaches you. I am a fairly sophisticated computer end-user, but have never tried any kind of website design before.

As advertised, this book starts with the assumption that you know nothing about HTML. It does not require you to have any fancy software. I have DreamWeaver, but I'm working in Notepad because that's what's on my laptop, and it's going just fine.

The approach the book takes is step by step from the very first line of code. It explains "why" you build a certain way, not just "how" to do it. There are also many examples beyond the sample website that is the book's main focus, so you learn more than just how to build a website that mirrors the one in the book. This will be a good reference book, not just a one-time read.

Good supporting website with downloadable code, errata (there aren't very many at all), and a nice forum. Author's style is pleasant and straightforward with a few corny jokes to laugh at along the way.

I can see by flipping forward to the end of the book that the sample site will be both nice looking and very functional with tables, response forms, images, radio buttons, etc. It will also be easy to maintain due to the proper coding practices taught here. This is just what I need both to create a nicer "home" website, and get started on one for my business.

Awesome product, definitely worth the price. Buy it.

I loved this book, and I'm a pretty experienced web designer. There are a lot of other reviews saying how great it is, so I thought I'd add a few comments not mentioned. First, this book is really intended for people who are starting from the ground up. As such, it only describes strict XHTML, so if you're going to be working on an existing site, you're not going to learn about a lot of what is out there, like frames and using tables for positioning elements on the page. It describes an elegant design philosophy that will get beginners on the right track. It also covers, in just enough detail, finding a web-hosting site, getting a domain, using FTP, etc. Second, as others have mentioned, it is not a reference manual. Third, it assumes the web tool you are going to use is Notepad, or a similar editor. Personally, I think that's the best way to go, but it's good to know before you buy the book. In other words, you are going to be writing XHTML and CSS to build your pages, not using some fancy tool. Lastly, where I think the book really shines is in the sections describing how to add extras to your web site, like search, blogs, and getting web statistics. It does all this only describing free utilities.

As I read this review, I've actually come to appreciate the book better. I can think of no other book that takes a complete novice from almost nothing to a complete, rather sophisticated web site that meets CSS and XHTML strict standards and even has a few bells and whistles, all in about 400 pages. There's even a bit of humor, and the author has a relaxed easy-going, re-assuring without pandering tone.

A good book that has a lot of Domino Information.
I find myself referencing it from time to time.
A nice tool to have at your disposal.

Although this book is a bit dated covering Domino R5, I would still say it has been a very valuable aide in learing Domino/Lotus administration on R6.5.3. I wish there had been some flow charts on the routing process at the end of chapter 8, and some packet header diagrams of the Notes RPC protocol.

I would recommend this book to anyone new to the Domino/Lotus notes world.

Great Reference. Go here first then look elswhere! I just HOPE Mr. Kirkland and NewRiders come to some agreement and get an updated version for R6/6.5 soon to be 7 out.

Invaluable!!!!! If I had to do in the trenches domino administration and could only bring one book with me this would be it.

When I was a Jr. Notes Administrator this book gave me the level of knowledge and understanding of Domino and Lotus Notes that I needed to move into a more senior position in a very short amount of time. My now-dogeared copy is still by my side every day at work as I continue to learn from this all-inclusive, easy-to-read manual. From setting up your first server to understanding Domino system architecture, "Domino System Administration" covers it all. This book is truly a "must have". I am desperately hoping that Mr. Kirkland writes an updated version for Domino/Notes 6!

If you buy any book for administering Lotus Notes/Domino, buy this one.

Wow, could this be the best computer book ever written? Well, if you are using Oracle and you want to understand how Oracle works, it just might be. It's packed with performance information, and even if you are not using Oracle this will be helpful for any (esp for Postgres users)

This is hands down the best book I've read on Oracle. It should be mandatory reading for anyone working with an Oracle database. Period.

I have close to 15 years of experience with Oracle, and have designed and developed large scale (>1TB) transactional systems. I've worn the hats of DBA, architect, developer, consultant, etc. The information in this book is invaluable.

If you work with Oracle this is a manual you need on your desk. Not just for DBA's but also for developers who will derive a good insight into how they should be developing their code.
Very technical but not to the point that brain freeze occurs.
Would highly recommend it.

This book is accurate and undoubtfully an excellent source to learn more about the Oracle Database.
Tom is an author full of humor with a versatile approach to performance. In his book he shows his approach to performance and put light on common practice like database independence and read-write consistency or like constraints enforced by triggers and autonomous transaction.
No doubt I learned a lot in this book!

I actually helps you understand, rather than just throwing information at you (as many books do)

Very well organized, and good content.
Id like to see more diagrams or so, so we can se how they decide to build the things... but it still is great.

I think this is one of the best books on this subject that I have read so far- very practical, very useful. There is a lot of information, real-life examples and experience from the .NET framework design team.

As a professional I have worked many times on building re-usable and extensible frameworks. Therefore, I had to read several books in order to make sure that the framework I was building was doing what it was supposed to do. However, in all these years I had never the luck to get a complete guide of "building a framework the right way" and I had to always put together pieces from different articles in order to make my own guide. Well, there you have it! Buy this book, read it and you will have a complete guide of how to do things the right way. Another great thing about this book is that different professionals make their comments about almost every guideline. As a result you are not only exposed to writer's view but also to the views and opinions of many well respected software professionals. Do buy this book and as hard as it might seem try to apply its recommendations to your daily development process.

If you need to write C#/.Net or even Java, this book is a must have.

I don't personally think that all developers will find this book useful. In fact, I have a feeling that some may find it highly useless and disruptive as it is abstract in a sense (one must apply the lessons to each library and scenario independently, taking into consideration many different aspects of usability and readability) and it does require some "retraining" of bad practices which have been long since ingrained due to years of usage.

But whether this book deserves a five star rating or a one star rating - whether this book is for you - can be answered by asking yourself the following question: are you obsessed with quality? Quality in the sense of creating a library that is:

- Easily reused by others, even first timers encountering the library or even first timers to .Net
- Well thought out with well designed classes
- Consistent within itself and consistent with the base libraries from Microsoft

The importance of the little things like naming classes, properties, methods, using one type of construct over another, using one type of accessor over another, etc. cannot be stressed enough in the overall picture of creating a library to a higher standard of quality, usability, and extensibility.

As Confucius is to have said:

"If names be not correct, language is not in accordance with the truth of things. If language be not in accordance with the truth of things, affairs cannot be carried on to success.

"When affairs cannot be carried on to success, proprieties and music do not flourish. When proprieties and music do not flourish, punishments will not be properly awarded. When punishments are not properly awarded, the people do not know how to move hand or foot.

"Therefore a superior man considers it necessary that the names he uses may be spoken appropriately, and also that what he speaks may be carried out appropriately. What the superior man requires is just that in his words there may be nothing incorrect."

As I wrote in an e-mail to my team, I think that digesting this book will lead to: higher quality public facing APIs for our customer development teams seeking to extend the functionality, increased readability and more consistency internally in our teams, increased usability and decreased maintenance costs for the support teams as well as new developers on our team, and of course, increased skill, knowledge, and competency as developers of each of the team members.

It's amazing how much is assumed in most after-market Java books! I can't estimate how often I've seen, "It is assumed you know about Threaded Programming, and therefore it is not covered here." Well, good news, It IS covered here. And is is covered well.
As a professional programmer for 20 years, I can attest to the fact that Thread programming is the most schizophrenic of disciplines. In addition, since most legacy thread concepts come from 'procedural' languages, the Java implementation tends to be hard to hold on to.
I found this book to be a wonderful 'primer' into Java's Thread capabilities. It doesn't attempt to relate to older languages. It starts from the begining, and presents its subject clearly. It's a good learning tool, and is organized well enough to be a reliable refference.
Even if you have experience with threading, this is worth it to orient your head to Java Threading.

If you find Doug Lea's "Concurrent Programming in Java" too daunting, this is the book you should have read first. The examples were easy to follow, and were to the point -that is, you will only learn how to work with the Thread API, and there is not much talk about design patterns. The diagrams in the book were very handy to follow Hyde's explanation. I enjoyed reading this book.. I recommend this book for every beginner in java programming.

This is a good book to learn Thread fundamentals and how to use thread in Real Life. The code examples uses a lot of AWT thats why the 4 stars I would have been a little bit happier if it used something else.
Any way a good purchase for learning Thread I brushed up my knowledge on Thread before sitting for the SCJP

This is a particularly easy to understand book on Java threads. If you are new to Java or to threading then don't hesitate to buy this book. The topics are clearly explained and in a logical order. The examples are small enough that they are easy to understand, but big enough to get the point across. And they work! Mr. Hyde has clearly gone to a great amount of trouble to make his presentation clear and simple to digest. As examples the diagrams he presents for explaining a deadlock and the timing of events in a wait/notify sequence make what is going on very clear.

If you are an experienced thread programmer looking for the finer points of threading, this book might not be the best. It does not go into the level of detail that some other books do, for example Holub's book "Taming Java Threads". On the other hand, these books are not the best for beginners.

Very straightforward and gentle introduction to the Java threading mechanics.It features basic theory and examples for about 3/4 of the book with the rest of the pages dedicated to a few useful techniques to ease and streamline threads programming, which you can use in you applications or as inspiration and examples for your own devices. My only complaint is the presentation method: a bunch of code followed by a bunch of explanations. I think presenting the more relevant lines of code interleaved with explanations and then the whole example program would make learning much more effective and easy. This book is also starting to show its age, so until a second edition comes out I would recommend the O'Reilly book over this one, unless you can get it real cheap.

This book has a lot of good information on starting your own Micro-ISV. It does focus a lot on PC based software instead of Corporate Enterprise Software, but to be fair it's harder to build and sell Enterprise Level software with a few people.

There are lots of good interviews with people that have succeeded in starting their own company and as expected it's not an easy route, but most seemed to be enjoying what they do.

Great book!

As expected, it gives guidelines for becoming a Micro-ISV providing useful information in many topics: Product definition, cyber-infrastructure, market exposure, quality, support management, community relationships, law and payments.

Provides a good number of interviews from diverse entrepeneurs, talking about their producs, business stories and advices for beginners.

After reading it, i feel very motivated to follow the Micro-ISV road.

This excellent book deserves to become the definitive manual of the mechanics of software development for small (`micro') Independent Software Vendors. Not only for the in-depth content (some of which will quickly become obsolete given the speed of technical progress), but perhaps more importantly the description and outline of an approach to the business. Each of the seven chapters have right-now, to-the-point tips and tricks, along with the reasons for them, as well as an outstanding index and rich external references. This covers all the bases, and a few other things as well, and although well written by a seasoned and successful master, it has all the depth necessary to become a well-used reference manual. An excellent companion to this book is `The Business Of Software' by Eric Sink, from a broader perspective animated by anecdotes of his company's path to success.
Eric Sink on the Business of Software (Expert's Voice)

if you are considering jumping into the ISV waters you do well to invest a few bucks and a few days studying Walsh's book. The interviews alone are worth the price of admission.

I only read half the book. Then why still rate it four stars?

Having my own ISV for over six years now I have arrived at the point of having 10 people in my staff and having experienced most things any startup will bump upon. Sometimes that makes you think you've seen it all by now, but this is an illusion.

No matter how many staff you have working for you, there will always be a Micro ISV within the company... you! Exept for any partners, no one will do your job of creating the company or product vision and has the same kind of commitment. Some would say that's sad to hear, but I think this is reality. You hire most people to complement you on your own skills, so most of the time don't expect the vision to come from them.

Going through this book I sometimes skipped some of the pages. Some things I knew just to well to read about again, some applied on starting your own business and some parts applied to US / UK law only. Still, I managed to gain a lot of knowledge, ideas and feedback from this book.

Thinking of starting your own ISV business? Then get this book first! Already a business owner with some experience under the belt? The pick your paragraphs and read what you have to. Great book, especially for ISV startups!

Thank You Fergal, for a "steady pen" in writing "Microsoft .NET for Programmers". The use of a FUN case study (Poker client-server) to synergize understanding of .NET principles in a "real-life" application is a boon to communicating such a vast subject.

Though this book seems geared to other than beginners (in both C# and .NET), starting at page 1, reading and doing the examples, and maintaining a steady course until the last page, is sure to "enlighten" the .NET inquiring mind. A more global perspective and understanding of this large subject is pretty much guaranteed.

One foot in front of the other, put yourself through the paces: Buy the book, download the files, read the prolific and responsive author participation list on Manning, read and practice from cover to cover. Your programming skills in .NET will be enhanced enjoyably for all future .NET ventures. As a bonus, you'll go to sleep at night without that large and uneasy .NET question mark look on your face.

Cover all the what and how-to about .NET in a simple and clear way. Can't believe the author does that so nicely in 300 pages. Great for experience programmer get started with .NET

Ok, this book means business. 2 chapters intro about .NET then right into the code. The problem is that IF you don't have a background in C, C++ or C# you are hosed. I had my geeky .NET Microsoft head brother help me with it. Otherwise, excellent book. For 4GL, COBOL and VB programmers like me not familiar with any of the C flavors, I recommend Microsoft Visual C# .Net step-by-step from Microsoft Press written John Sharp and Jon Jagger.

This is one of the best technical books I have read. It takes a very large subject and distills it down to a concise and manageable text.
Each chapter takes you further into .Net in a fast paced yet very well-explained way. The poker game developed in the book is also fun to play with and enhance.
This is a must-read text. However, read an introductory book first.

I've been through many of the C# books, some from Microsoft Press, and some from O'Reilly, and on and on.
For beginners there is no clear winner. However, for experienced programmers looking to expand their knowledge into many of the more advanced areas of C#, I recommended Grimes book, Microsoft .NET for Programmers.

It's for intermediate to advanced, and it's quite a bit of fun working through the example that builds and builds upon an engine, adding many interfaces, where each interface exploits a particular area of .Net. Plus he throws in his years of programming expertise to add in lots of programming tricks that also highlight .Net's flexibility and ease of programming.

Do svidanija - moi tovarischi!

I am an experienced developer but fairly new to VB.NET. This book is not for beginners but it is great for someone like myself who knows what they want to do and just wants some good examples and tips. It's a great reference book and a good alterative to Google. The English is clear and to the point. The book is a sturdy hardback and the pages are well laid out. It's easy to read afters hous of staring at a screen. To sum up, I'm glad that I brought it. It has saved me time and money and you can't ask for much more than that :-)

There is a lot of information in this book, covering a broad range of subjects. It is well laid out and easy to reference. The CD comes with the current version of the book as well as the author's previous book on VB6. Not really a beginner's book as there are more intermediate and advanced topics. I had not used .NET and hadn't touched VB6 in a couple of years. I needed a resource to help jump from rusty VB6 skills to .NET - this book did it perfectly. It is also filled with advanced topics that I am not currently using but now know where to go when the need arrives.

Fast service, great quality... What more can you ask for. I recommend this seller.

I bought this book few years. It is an excelent source of information and writers style is very clear. I just came back to see if Balena has book for C# 2005. Looks like I found something. I am going get that one. However, present book is quite good, check if there is a newer release you may want to get that one.

This was the first .NET book I purchased, and in many ways if I hadn't bought any others it would have been sufficient. It has thorough coverage of the .NET environment, with lucid code examples in VB.NET. I found the chapters on ADO.NET and the framework internals to be most useful to my job as an ASP.NET developer, but the coverage is deep enough that a person with very little programming experience could read this book and come away as a well-rounded .NET programmer. Even if you're writing in C#, as I am, the book is worth the money. I would also recommend Dino Esposito's Programming Microsoft ASP.NET for more depth if you're a web developer.